Chip-maker Intel "should be ashamed of itself" for efforts to undermine the USD 100 laptop initiative, according to its founder Nicholas Negroponte. He accused Intel of selling its own cut-price laptop - the Classmate - below cost to drive him out of markets. Professor Negroponte, who aims to distribute millions of laptops to kids in developing countries, said Intel had hurt his mission "enormously".
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Member since:2005-08-28
This is why I'm so eager to see content for this machine. It's supposed to replace textbooks? Well, let's see some textbooks. It's supposed to have learning activities? Show me.
Thus far we've got some very clever and innovative hardware, and a bunch of specially-designed software including plenty of programming interfaces.
I hope to see a concerted effort on the part of the sponsoring governments to load up these machines with learning materials, before they reach students. Thus far the closest thing to educational materials I've heard is the special off-line version of the most relevant and well-written Wikipedia articles.
If Intel's sole purpose in this venture is to crush the OLPC foundation, then yes, this is a bad thing. If they're simply trying to offer more options, then it's a good thing.
Member since:
2005-07-28
Before I say anything, let me qualify, I live in New Mexico.
It ranks as one of or among the poorest states in the United States even below Louisiana which looks like an economic superpower to us. Our population, except for in places like Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Albuquerque, and several larger towns, is grindingly poor.
We've found that technology does not `teach` but only re-enforces or augments the learning process. Yes, there are self-learners and exceptions to the rule but more-often-than-not this is a rule. It is also a good research tool if you trust your sources online.
Now this Intel v. Professor Nicholas Negroponte is another Goliath v. David battle. A well-aimed stone might get the point across but I doubt it'll make a damaging impact unless the rest of the open source army into the battle.
Maybe my points are we must pay people to teach. The teaching process must include technology but not replace the learning process or replace thinking.